Air tempering apparatus



March 27, 1934.

D. A. HESS El AL AIR TEMPERING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 9,1932 Zhwentors DJ]. Hess and WA. Mnsfan whlzson a; @mvf wmw March27,1934- D. A. HESS Er AL 1,952,984

AIR TEMPERING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ennentm-g DA- and. WA. Winsiarz Jafzrzamz 37 gm fisiWZZWMfzbmcgS Patented Mar. 27,1934 AIR TEMPERIN G APPARATUS Daniel A. Hess and William A. WinstonJohnson, Louisville, Ky.

Application February 9,

1932, Serial No. 591,908

4 Claims. (c1. 261-12) This invention relates to air tempering apparatusfor dwellings, oifices and buildings in general, and it has for itsprincipal object the provision in combination with the air duct of anair heating plant, of a turbine blower driven by a jet of water underpressure from the main, the water spraying from the turbine in the formof a shower or curtain through which the air inducted by said blowermust pass to the jacket of the heating plant or other conduit throughwhich the tempered air is distributed.

Another ob'ect of the invention is the provision of a system by whichthe water supply to the turbine is thermostatically controlled by heatconditions in the furnace to operate the blower when there is fire inthe furnace, and a manually or otherwise controlled by-pass forsupplying water as a motive agent to the turbine when the heating plantis not being operated.

Still another object of the invention relates to the novel constructionof the water operated blower per se.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of an airconduit having a fan-supplied chamber and an adjacent chamber openingdirect to atmosphere for receiving air under natural draft, with adamper in a common partition wall open when the fan is not working, butclosing under water pressure when the turbine is operated.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following descriptionof a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of. the followingspecification and throughout the several figures of which the samecharacters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a side view partly in section showing the device of ourinvention installed in connection with a hot air furnace;

Figure 2 is a section taken along the line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a slightly modified form of draft hood;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the balanced damper; and

Figure 6 is a transverse section showing a fragment of the turbineblower.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, the numeral 1 representsthe outer casing or jacket of a hot air furnace having an opening at -2by means of which the air chamber within said casing is placed incommunication with the air tempering apparatus constituting the subjectmatter of the present invention.

The invention comprises a casing which in general, is designated by thereference character 3, defining an air conduit having one end 4connected to the furnace casing at the opening 2. The mouth 5 of thecasing 3 communicates with any desired source of fresh air by means of ahood 6 having its lower edge provided with a flange '7 defining achannel 8, said flange resting upon the edge of the surrounding wall ofthe casing 3, the edge of said wall extending into said channel. Saidhood may have an opening 9 which may be screened if desired, asindicated at 10, said opening taking in air from the immediate room orchamber within which theapparatus may be located. It may be preferredhowever, as shown in the modification illustrated in Figure 4, to takethe air in from an outside source and the conduits 11 and 12 aresuggestive of such an arrangement.

The casing 3 is preferably segregated into twochambers 13 and 14 by acommon partition wall 15. Under certain conditions as will appear, the'two chambers are put into communication by means of a damper 16 whichwill presently be described. The mouth of the chamber 13 is preferablycircular and in said mouth is mounted a cross bar 17 supporting. a shaft18. A turbine blower 19 is rotatably mounted through suitable bearingsupon said shaft.

The turbine blower may be made with sheet metal blades secured to a hub20. The'blower is formed with inner and outer series of vanes. The innerseries take the form of blades 21 whose function is to deliver air underpressure to the chamber 13. j The inner vanes are separated from theouter vanes by an annular partition 22. The outer vanes 23 arepreferably perpendicular and arranged at close intervals radially of theblower. Their function is to serve as turbine blades when impinged by amotive fluid.

In the present instance the motive fluid is water from the main 24.Under ordinary conditions a comparatively small flow of water issufficient to operate the turbine at the required velocity entailingsmall cost to the operator, while in the winter season particularlmthetime when the furnace is most used and the tempering of the air is mostnecessary, the water consumed is as a rule merely part of the surplusminimum allowance of the municipality or water company, which must bepaid for under the fixed minimum service charge, whether it is used ornot. From the main, the water passes through the pipe 25 and issues fromthe nozzle 26 in the form of a jet against the blades 23. The balance ofthe turbine blower is presumed to be very nice 5 so that it is readilyset in motion with a small jet. The water dashing against the blades 23which are almost normal to the direction of impingement of the jet, isshattered into spray which dripping from the turbine blades as theturbine blower revolves, forms a surrounding curtain of finely dividedwater particles about the air inducted by the central series of blades21. The air must pass through this curtain on its way to the furnacecasing and thus becomes humidified. The excess water flows into a sum27, either dropping directly from the blades21 which overhang the sump,or by dropping upon the in clined partition 15 and gravitating down intosaid sump.

The turbine blower may be lubricated by means of a grease cup 28, andaccess to the grease cup is had byway of the hand-hold closure 29. It iscontemplated to temper the air with moisture whenever heated air isbeing supplied by the 25v furnace. With this object in view a valve isiintercalated in the pipe 25 actuated by a thermostat 31 responsive totemperature conditions within the furnace casing. When the air isheated, the thermostat opens the valve and the turbine 30, bloweroperates. When the fire is let go out the fij thermostat closes thevalve 30 and the water supply to the turbine blower is cut oif. Thethermostat may be set with such delicacy as to regulate the speed of theturbine blower according to the temperature of the air. Since the speedii-depends upon the water supply, not only the volume of air but alsoits humidification is controlled simultaneously by the same thermostat.v The air tempering apparatus is useful in summer "as well as winter. Aby-pass 32 is built ;;around the valve 30 and provided with a manuallyoperated valve 33. Normally in seasons when the thermostat 31 iscontrolling the operation of the turbine blower, the'valve 33 will beclosed. When the furnace is cold the valve 33 may be opened, supplyingwater to operate the turbine which then forces humidified fresh unheatedair, through the furnace from which it is distributed.

The damper 16 is preferably hingedly mounted so on a pintel 34in thechamber 14. The'damper is preferably balanced. It is operatedhydraulically through water pressureadmitted into a cylinder 35 againstthe lower face of a piston 36 having a piston rod 37 connectedintermediately to a cross arm'38. 'From opposite'ends of the cross armdepend links 39 and 40 which connect the spaced points to the damper onone side-of its pivotal :axis. When the piston rises, the damper isclosed. The piston descends by gravity, opening the damper.

Water is supplied to the cylinder adjacent its lower'end through aconduit a1 communicating with the pipe 25 which supplies the nozzle. Theorifice 4.2 of the nozzle being quite restricted, pres- (55 surebuildsup in the pipe 41 and in the cylinder whenever the turbine is beingoperated. When the water supply is out off from the turbine, the

water in the cylinder is exhausted, through the orifice of the nozzlepermitting gravital descent of the piston.

While we have in the above description disclosed what we believe to be apractical and desirable embodiment of our invention, it is to beunderstood that the details of construction as shown and described aremerely by way of example and not to be construed as limitative in theirbearing upon the invention as defined in the claims.

What we claim is:

'1. In combination with the air duct of an air heating plant, a casingcommunicating at one end with atmosphere and at the other end with saidVairduct, a turbine blower mounted in the mouth of said casing havingcentrally disposed air vanes and peripherally disposed turbine blades, anozzle supplying water under pressure to said turbine bladesjthe splashfrom said blades forming a curtain of spray through which the airprojected therethrough by said vanes must pass, and a thermostatresponsive to the temperature of the heated air in said duct forcontrolling the water supply to said turbine blower.

2. In combination with the air duct of an air heating plant, a casingcommunicating at one end with said air duct, apartition within saidcasing dividing it into two chambers having mouths opening toatmosphere, a hingedly mouned damper occluding one chamber, a turbineblower mounted in the mouth of the other chamher, a nozzle for supplyingwater under pressure to said turbine blower and hydraulic means foractuating said damper comprising a cylinder, a piston in said cylinderand linkage connecting said piston to said damper, for biasing saiddamper in open direction upon movement of the piston in one direction,and means for supplying water to said cylinder to actuate said pistonfor opening said damper comprising a conduit in communication with thesupply to said nozzle.

3. Air conduit havin heating means in one region and a turbine blower inanother region in advance of the first named region, means for supplyingwater under pressure to said turbine blower for operating it andhumidifying the air inducted thereby, means responsive to, thetemperature of the heated air for regulating the supply of water to saidturbine blower, and a manually controlled by-pass for directing thesupplying of water at will to said turbine blower when said heatingmeans is not in operation.

l.- In combination with the air duct of an air heating plant, a casingcommunicating at one end withsaid air duct, a partition within saidcasing dividing it into two; chambers having mouths opening toatmosphere, a damper in said partition adapted to place said chambers incommunication with each other, a turbine blower mounted in the mouth ofone chamber, a nozzle for supplying water under pressure to said turbineblower, a sump at the bottom of said casing, said partition and dampersloping beneath said turbine blower, forming a chute for directing dripfrom said turbine blower into said sump, and means responsive to thetemperature of the heated air in said air duct for controlling thesupply of water to said turbine.

DANIEL A. HESS. WILLIAM ALBERT WINSTON JOHNSON.

